1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a vehicular door having in a window frame a glass runner structure through which a window panel runs upward and downward, and more specifically, to a glass runner structure which is suited for a flash-surface body construction of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, a so-called flash-surface body construction has been widely applied to motor vehicles, particularly to passenger motor vehicles, for the excellency in design and reduced air resistance which the same has during running of the vehicle. One of doors employed in such motor vehicles is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model First Provisional Publication No. 62-56419, which has a glass runner structure suited for the flash-surface body construction of the vehicle.
The door disclosed in the publication is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings, which has the conventional glass runner structure mounted thereon. The structure comprises a glass runner 11 constructed of a molded rubber and a window frame 12A constructed of a part of a door panel 12. As is shown in FIG. 5, the window frame 12A is formed with a flange 12a to which the glass runner 11 is fixed. The glass runner 11 comprises a main seal portion 11a which guides the upward and downward movement of a window panel 13 and a seal lip portion 11b which sealingly contacts to an inner surface of the window panel 13 to prevent water penetration into the vehicle cabin. A retainer clip 14 of metal is employed for tightly connecting the glass runner 11 to the window frame 12A. With this retainer clip 14, undesired outside dislocation of the window panel 13 during high speed cruising of the vehicle is suppressed. In fact, during cruising of the vehicle, a lower pressure area is produced about the outer surface of the moving vehicle, which tends to bias the window panel 13 outwardly. The retainer clip 14 is of a channel structure, which comprises a L-shaped base portion 14a secured to the window frame 12A and a leading end portion 14b located outside of the vehicle body as shown.
However, the above-mentioned glass runner structure has the following drawbacks.
That is, since the positioning accuracy of the glass runner 11 and the retainer clip 14 relative to the window panel 13 depends directly on not only the accuracy with which the window frame 12A is constructed with respect to the door panel 12 but also the accuracy with which the window panel 13 is assembled with respect to the door panel 12, it sometimes occurs that, as is shown by the broken line and the phantom line in FIG. 5, the window panel 13 fails to assume its right position relative to the glass runner 11. In fact, it is difficult or at least troublesome to accurately construct the window frame 12A and accurately assemble the window panel 13 because of considerable sizes and weights which they have. Thus, in the conventional glass runner structure, it tends to occur that the window panel 13 fails to assume its full closed position due to its deep contact against the seal lip portion 11b of the glass runner 11 and the window panel 13 fails to have its inner surface properly sealed by the seal lip portion 11b due to its outward dislocation.